Holidaying Hard! - Part Two
In last weeks blog I revealed two big things I learnt on my recent trip to Tahiti with my husband, Nigel. You can read that blog here if you missed it. In short it was about discovering the joy of disconnecting (from all that pings and notifies) and equally to really connecting and investing in what will actually make your life meaningful and rock solid.
In this weeks blog, I have one more big learning I took away from the holiday that I’d like to share with you. It comes back towards our bodies and food.
Let me start by saying now that I don’t follow a diet and if you work with me as a health coach, we won’t be putting you on a diet either. They simply don’t work.
I believe that every body is unique and is able to tell you what it needs to thrive. We just need to be able to listen to it. The problem being, we’ve never been really taught how to. Check out my previous blog here if you are interested to learn to listen to your body.
Although I am not following a specific diet, I do have certain foods that I know don’t work for me and I try to steer clear of them. Gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and red meats to name the big ones. It’s not that they don’t appear in my diet at all, but I know full well what will happen when I consume them, so for the most part, I choose not to.
That is….until you are faced with a cruise with unlimited delicious food, the backdrop of Pacific Islands and the joy of trying local cuisine!
Image thanks to fishoftheday.tv.
The big experiment!
I’m sure you’ve had this voice in your head too…”It’s the holidays!”, “You can let go!”, “You’re only here for a week!”, “Look at that melted chocolate cake!” and so on…. And I listened! I enjoyed Eggs Benedict almost every morning! A stunning lunch, with a little dessert every day followed up in the evening with an aperitif and a three course meal. And let’s not even talk about the alcohol!!!
Result? You guessed it….bliss while I was having the meal…joy over the chocolate cake and filet mignon…not so much afterwards. My stomach and gut definitely told me I was doing something very strange to them and they were letting me know about it. Not to the point where I didn’t enjoy myself, but the message was loud and clear ‘Hey Liv!! What on earth is getting into you?!’.
And what was super interesting (and scary to be honest) was that my entire body reacted this time too. I ended up developing a very swollen ankle on my left leg. Water retention, and another loud cry now from my body, "seriously Liv, what ARE you doing?”.
At this point the holiday was over and we were heading back home with big smiles on our faces, sun-kissed bodies and a calmness we would all love to hold onto throughout the entire year.
My gut and even my ankle returned to operations normal within days of me going back to the food and drinks I know work for my body. I was then left with reflecting on the experiment I had inadvertently done on my body and here are my key 6 outtakes:
Our bodies are amazing ancient bio-computers that talk to us every single day. We just need to learn to listen.
Our bodies will always try and bring you back into balance. The more you tip the balance, the louder it will react.
If you do look after your body 80% of the time, that little 20% blip will literally be a blip. Clearly I’ve learnt over years how to fine tune my body, so one week away eating foods I wouldn’t normally eat is simply a blip to my body and one that I was happy taking, guilt free.
Sometimes you forget why you gave that certain food up in the first place. Well, let me tell you, your body is always there to remind you when you re-introduce it into your system! It has a very long memory!
I’m so glad I did (and was able) to let go of my ‘norm’ for that week but I think next time I will do this more gently. Maybe for one meal a day rather than go all in like I did. What’s that word?…Moderation!
Finally, I must admit, I craved to go back to the way I normally eat by the end of the holiday. I found real joy in my morning chia pudding and homemade museli and a simple, delicious meal at night (alcohol free).
Put the mask on you first, and if you are deviating from your norm, do so in moderation and thrive again!
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